Indiana Historical Society Announces 2019 Indiana Living Legends

INDIANAPOLIS—The Indiana Historical Society (IHS) is proud to announce Angela Ahrendts, Dan and Beth Elsener, Eva Kor, and Peyton Manning are being recognized as its 2019 Indiana Living Legends. This year’s class of Living Legends will be honored at the annual gala on Thursday, July 25, at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, located at 450 W. Ohio St. in downtown Indianapolis.

Each year, IHS recognizes extraordinary Hoosiers for their local, statewide and national accomplishments in a variety of areas and disciplines. The gala is IHS’s signature fundraising event and helps IHS fulfill its mission to be Indiana’s Storyteller™ by supporting its statewide programs and services.

In addition to the generous corporate sponsorship of OneAmerica Financial Partners, Inc. and Lake City Bank, IHS welcomes individuals and companies to support the IHS mission by attending the event.

Tables of 10 are available for Guests ($2,500), Patrons ($3,500) or Event Benefactors ($5,000). Individual tickets are available at the Patron ($350) and Event Benefactor ($500) level. Patrons and Event Benefactors will receive recognition in the program. All but $75 of each individual ticket price (and all but $750 of a Guest or Patron level table cost) is a tax-deductible gift in support of IHS’s educational programs throughout Indiana.

The black-tie gala will begin with a cocktail reception at 6 p.m., followed by a gourmet dinner at 6:30 p.m. Event Benefactor attendees are invited to a pre-reception with the honorees at 5 p.m. The program, which features Scott Sander of WISH-TV 8 as master of ceremonies, will begin at 7:45 p.m. It will be followed by coffee and desserts, at which all attendees will have the opportunity to congratulate the honorees.

A selection committee of civic and corporate leaders performs the difficult, but rewarding, task of choosing the recipients. Honoree tribute videos are produced by WFYI.

For additional information, or to purchase tickets to the 2019 Indiana Living Legends Gala, please contact the IHS Development Department at (317) 233-5658.

2019 Indiana Living Legends

Angela Ahrendts
Angela Ahrendts was most recently Senior Vice President of Apple Retail based in Cupertino, CA. During her five years she integrated Apple’s physical and digital businesses to create a seamless customer journey for over a billion visitors a year. Under her leadership, she redesigned the stores, reimagined the experience and recrafted roles for 70,000 employees globally. The launch of Today at Apple was one of the most transformative programs whose mission is to encourage connection, inspire learning and unlock creativity. Today there are over 18,000 sessions held a week enriching the lives of customers and communities worldwide.

Angela relocated to London to join Burberry in 2006 where she served as Chief Executive Officer for nearly nine years. She led the company through a period of phenomenal global growth repositioning Burberry as a global luxury brand. Her leadership focus on culture, values and positive energy resulted in tripling the business and quadrupling the share price.

Prior to Burberry, Angela spent 25 years in New York as Executive Vice President at Liz Claiborne Inc., and earlier in her career as President of Donna Karan International.

Angela has a BA from Ball State University where she was awarded an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters in 2010. She was also a member of the UK’s Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Council from 2010 to 2015, and was named Honorary Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2014. Angela has consistently been recognized by Forbes, Fortune and the BBC as a Top 100 Global Executive. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Ralph Lauren Corp., and a Well Member with charity: water.

Dan and Beth Elsener
For nearly 45 years, Dan and Beth Elsener have been united in their efforts to champion the cause of Catholic education and to raise their family of 9 children and 28 grandchildren.

Having met in high school, Dan pursued his undergraduate degree at Nebraska Wesleyan University and Beth at the University of Nebraska. They married in December 1975. Upon graduation, Dan found his calling in teaching. This realization led him to earn a graduate degree from the University of Nebraska. As he progressed in his career, Dan accepted roles in K-12 education with ever-increasing levels of responsibility.

When Dan accepted the position of Superintendent and Secretary of Education in the Office of Catholic Education for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in 1992, he and Beth pursued this new adventure as a team, together relocating their family to Indianapolis. In his role with the Archdiocese, Dan oversaw all aspects of Catholic schools, serving 25,000 children. As he worked to address the needs of central Indiana students, Beth was actively involved in her own children’s education, volunteering for various committees and enrichment activities and supporting her children’s pursuits. Together, Beth and Dan developed a large network of dedicated leaders and donors to ensure that students from all economic backgrounds have the opportunity to benefit from Catholic education.

In 2001, Dan accepted the call to serve as the eighth President of Marian College. As President and First Lady of Marian University, the Elseners work tirelessly to build a “Great Catholic University in a Great American City,” together helping to advance the mission of Marian by educating transformational leaders for service to the world. Over the last 18 years, they have overseen the transformation of Marian from college to university, expanded enrollment from 1,000 to 4,449 students in 2019, launched the College of Osteopathic Medicine and the nationally-recognized Klipsch Educators College, and created and expanded a variety of new athletic, undergraduate, and graduate programs.

The Elseners are most thankful for their faith, burgeoning family, friends, and the opportunity to share their calling to help advance the economic, social, and cultural life of central Indiana.

Eva Kor
For the past 40 years, Holocaust survivor Eva Kor has shared her story with students, teachers, medical professionals, senators, administrators, historians, university groups, graduating classes, and civic groups, both nationally and internationally.

Eva is one of the few surviving twins sharing her personal account of the medical experiments supervised by Nazi doctor Josef Mengele at Auschwitz. Eva’s account of her survival of the Holocaust offers many relevant lessons on the dangers of hate and prejudice, and the consequences of allowing prejudice to persist, unchecked, in others.

In addition to the importance of her account from a historical perspective, Eva’s life lessons and message of forgiveness have touched the lives of millions of people. In 1995, Eva chose to forgive the Nazis, after deciding that they should no longer have power over her life. She describes forgiving the Nazis as an act of self-healing, self-liberation, and self-empowerment; forgiveness is not about the perpetrator, not about forgetting. It is one step toward repairing the world by helping victims free themselves from perpetrators and remove anger and hatred.

Eva shares her own discovery of the power to forgive so that others may see the possibility to heal themselves through forgiveness. Forgiveness provides a way for people to free themselves from hurt, anger, and hatred, from the pain of victimhood. If people find peace with themselves, the world may also find peace. Recipient of the 2017 Sachem award, Eva’s message of healing reaches around the globe and across social, economic, cultural boundaries.

Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning, the NFL’s only five-time Most Valuable Player and a 14-time Pro Bowl selection, has earned his place among the greatest quarterbacks in league history.

Manning joined the Indianapolis Colts in 1998 as the first overall draft pick. When he retired from football in 2016, Manning held numerous NFL career records including most touchdown passes, completions, passing yards, playoff appearances, and 300-yard passing games. Manning led the Colts to victory in Super Bowl XLI and captured a win for the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50.

Manning’s number 18 has been retired by the Colts, and he has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, and will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame this year. Manning has been honored with the Byron “Whizzer” White Humanitarian Award, the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year, the Bart Starr Award, and the Lincoln Medal.

Manning serves on The Pat Summit Foundation advisory board and sits on the American Red Cross National Celebrity Cabinet. He and his wife, Ashley, established the PeyBack Foundation, which assists programs that provide leadership and growth opportunities for children at risk. Manning is an ambassador, advocate and fundraiser for Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent.

Manning also hosts and writes the NFL version of Detail and is filming Peyton’s Places, both for ESPN+, all while continuing his iconic commercials, corporate lectures and various business partnerships.

He and Ashley have twins, Marshall and Mosley, and reside in Denver, Colorado.